Cilantro Tabbouleh With Cranberries

Cilantro Tabbouleh Recipe Ingredients

¼ cup cilantro
¼ cup cranberries, dried
1 cup bulgur
2 ½ cups chicken broth, reduced sodium
1 cup cucumber, seeded and chopped
1/8 cup shallots, chopped
1/8 cup lemon juice
½ teaspoon lemon peel, shredded finely
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
Lemon wedges, optional

Method:

1. Lightly coat a medium size Dutch oven or an unheated nonstick pan with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat the pan or oven over medium heat. Add the chopped shallots and cook for about 2 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in the chicken broth and bring it to the boil. Add the bulgur and return the contents to boil. Reduce the heat and cover the pan. Let the mixture simmer over low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the bulgur is tender. Remove from heat and let it cool for 5 minutes at room temperature.
3. Transfer this cooled bulgur mixture in a medium size bowl. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator to chill for about 2 to 3 hours or until it has completely cooled.
4. Stir the cilantro, cucumber, lemon juice, lemon peel, drained cranberries, salt and freshly ground black pepper into the bulgur mixture. Toss well to mix. Garnish with fresh lime wedges if desired. This recipe makes 6 servings.

Health Tip:

• Cilantro tabbouleh with cranberries is a low calorie, diabetes friendly recipe which provides about 109 calories, 4 gm proteins and 24 gm carbohydrates per serving.
• This recipe can be considered heart friendly as it provides negligible amounts of total fats, cholesterol and saturated fats. Moreover it provides 5 gm of fiber per serving. Fiber helps to reduce LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol and in general improves your lipid profile.
• This recipe can be considered to be a moderate to high sodium recipe as it provides about 293 mg sodium per serving. If you have been advised to go on a low sodium diet and still want to include Cilantro Tabbouleh with Cranberries in your meals, make sure that you adjust the sodium intake of your other meals.  If you use regular chicken broth instead of reduced sodium then it will further increase the sodium values of this recipe.
• You may use reduced sodium vegetable broth instead of reduced sodium chicken broth to make this recipe completely vegetarian.
• This recipe contains gluten or wheat, so people with gluten sensitivity should use gluten-free substitutes.